See You In A Minute, My Dear
by gummibar
Summary: A scenario where Franz Hopper survived his original sacrifice to XANA and became lost in the Network, with Jeremie able to retrieve him and bring him back to Earth. However, with XANA retrieving his source codes and his power growing beyond control, there's only one way to defeat the malevolent A.I. for good at this point, and it comes with the ultimate price. Hopper's life.


"I need to go back to Lyoko."

"But…y—you can't."

XANA had successfully regained all of his source codes, and he was _strong. _Stronger than ever. Completely out of control. Spectres left and right, a new return to the past trip required every single day. Their weak little fight against the malevolent A.I. was only making him stronger, and them weaker. Tyron still didn't believe them when they begged for him to shut down his computer, begged for him to open his eyes and listen to them when they told him what he'd brought back to life with Deckard Inc. And once Franz had been brought back into the picture, all Tyron did was laugh.

_"You are ever so naïve, Hopper."_

Perhaps so. But it didn't matter. XANA had control of the entire network, the situation was dire and they were left on their own. Going to Lyoko, fighting his monsters and deactivating towers just wasn't cutting it anymore. So one night, one cold, fateful evening when the clouds had blocked out any trace of the moonlight, everyone met together in the lab to make the ultimate decision.

There _was one _way to defeat XANA. For good. Franz knew how XANA worked better than anyone else did. He created him; he could just as easily destroy him. But it came with an expensive price.

His life.

Sitting in silence, the students circled around the Holomap. And Franz stood before them, arms folded and subconsciously chewing on his lip because he knew what the option was. They were discussing how to get rid of XANA, what they could _possibly _do with as desperate as times had become, and the entire time they chatted and panicked he knew what to do.

"There is one way," he finally spoke.

It would not just be a sacrifice of his 'energy' or 'power'—because he was more than that now. He was a human, living and breathing, flesh and blood. He wouldn't be trapped in the virtual prison again; he wouldn't get lost in the network or go into hiding. It wouldn't be something the warriors would _assume_ happened, but rather, something they would _know _happened. He would die. Franz Hopper was to give his life for the destruction of XANA, and it was a very tough decision to make.

XANA could be destroyed tonight. Right here, right now, with the press of a button. A program that Hopper would give to Jeremie, a program that Jeremie would from then on be in control of. Consider it self-destruct. Hopper did not _create _XANA without coming up with a way to _destroy _him at the same time. Once encoded into the supercomputer, it would be linked through his avatar. He would go to the core of the Cortex where XANA was living, the life source of Tyron's supercomputer, and with the push of one button, Jeremie would launch the program through Franz. It would annihilate the Cortex. Shut down Tyron's computer. XANA would vaporize. It was fail proof, XANA couldn't escape it. Anything in its path would perish.

Including Franz.

"I have to go back to Lyoko," he said.

This brought the Lyoko Warriors to their feet. As if they were saluting a soldier, standing for battle. And yet… no one even asked why. Nobody questioned him, nobody argued. Because it was Franz Hopper. It was the man who created the very evil they were up against, that man who created everything in front of their eyes. There was no sense in arguing with him. He knew what he was doing.

Only one would dare fight against him, and it would be the _other _thing he had brought into the world.

"But…y—you can't," she said. She didn't have to ask about it, because the way he had said it, the look in his eyes and the subtle shaking of his voice, told her that when he stepped into the scanner, he wouldn't be coming back. Just like last time.

"It's the only way, Aelita."

"So why you!? Why not me, then? Or someone else?"

"Aelita," he hushed, walking up to her and resting his hands against her warm, rosy cheeks. "Oh, Aelita. You _know _why."

"But daddy…"

Franz let one of his fingers fall against her lips, gently shushing her. His eyes turned to the others in the room, but his words were spoken still at her. "Look around you," he continued. "Everything I've created, look at what it's become. It's my responsibility to destroy it. Either way, I'm the only one that can. And I think I've lived as much life as I possibly can on Earth. I've no longer an identity or a home, I've…"

"But you've got _me_!"

He smiled down at her, and all he managed was a nod. "But _you've _got so much more, darling."

The procedure was briefly explained. All Jeremie did was nod along, promising Franz that he would take control and that he knew what to do. He would follow orders exactly as planned, and the others—Yumi, Odd, Ulrich, William, even Laura… they would all agree to stand by. Aelita, too. Franz had held her tightly and gave her a tender kiss on the forehead, and neither of them let the tears well in their eyes because they'd come to an agreement that all good things must come to an end.

She stood in silence and watched the elevator doors close, listening to the sound of the cart scraping down the shaft, stopping at the floor below. With the others surrounding Jeremie at the computer, Aelita couldn't take her eyes off of the doors in front of her. Her throat tightened up, and she cursed herself. What was she doing?

She couldn't let him do that!

"Aelita!" Yumi called out, watching the girl dash into the elevator. But by the time she had turned around, by the time the others had noticed, the doors had once again shut and the cart was already moving. Yumi wanted to run after her, to chase her down, but the firm grip of Ulrich's hand on her shoulder had stopped her from doing anything at all. It was Aelita and her father, for God's sake. There was no stopping her at any rate.

The sound of the elevator creaking open from behind forced Franz away from the scanner he had chosen. He should have known she'd come running down, that she'd come begging him to change his mind. He couldn't help but smile to himself_. My little girl. My oh-so-determined and stubborn little girl._

"You—you can't do this!" she shouted. Her voice cracked on the last word, with her knees trembling enough to nearly make her collapse onto the ground. She stood before him, her fists clenched at her sides, prepared to say whatever she needed to make him stop. No, he couldn't do this. He couldn't. It was the only thing she found herself able to say in her mind, over and over and over again. _You can't do this. You can't do this. _She couldn't even tell herself a valid point as to _why _he couldn't do it. He just…he just couldn't.

All he did was nod. He uttered not a word, made not a sound, shed not a single tear. Simply nodded. But Aelita—Aelita was nearly losing it. Without even speaking, tears were already spilling and she shook her head furiously.

"No," she choked. "No!"

"There is no other choice, Aelita."

"Y—yes there is! We can just k—keep fighting, you don't…" she paused, her lips quivering. Aelita would keep running her sleeve across her face, but it couldn't dry tears that didn't stop in the first place. "P—please. Daddy."

"Aelita," he smiled.

She'd been so happy since he'd come back. When Jeremie told her that he wasn't dead, that he'd survived his sacrifice, that he'd been lost in the network but could easily be brought back…it was happiness so great that she nearly exploded. Her heart had fluttered so much; her smile had brightened so greatly that her face hurt for the entire rest of the day. But now, now she couldn't even _think_ about how that felt. Being happy.

All she could think of was that she was looking at her father right now. Her _father, _the man she'd missed so greatly and hadn't seen for over a decade, standing in front of her…ready to leave her again. She kept shaking her head and she felt nauseous. "Don't leave me again!"

Everything she said was a stutter, a whimper, barely coherent. Hopper couldn't really understand her words, not with as distraught as she was, but at the same time, being her father…he understood everything. This was one of the harder parts of being a father. Seeing your own kin so miserable, seeing tears in their eyes when you love them so dearly and want them to be nothing less than joyful. This was for the best—for everyone.

Franz Hopper turned back to the scanner, and back to his daughter. He approached her with caution, with Aelita shaking so much he was certain she'd fall over. Her face covered in the streams of her tears, her nose running and every word a hiccup or a sob. All she needed was to be held, and he walked up to her and he held her _so _tightly.

"Please don't go," Aelita continued to beg, his sweater stained with her own tears. Franz smiled and kissed her forehead, and the way he clung to her and spread warmth throughout her made her heart skip a beat and for a moment—for one, shining moment—she thought he was going to stay.

But then he pulled away from her, taking one step at a time towards the direction of the scanner.

"No," Aelita muttered. "No!"

Her eyes widened with horror, and her heart shattered and crumbled away into the pits of her stomach. She thought she had stopped him, thought she had convinced him, and she hadn't. He was leaving. He was leaving!

"No!" she screamed again. It was all she was saying. Over, and over, and over again. "Daddy, no!"

Franz kept his back facing towards the scanner. He didn't spend a single second with his eyes on anything other than the beauty of his daughter before him. She was glorious—she'd go so far in life because he was doing this. She had so much potential, so much to live for, and he was so, _so _proud that of everything he'd ever done in his life…he had had her. It was a greater decision than anything else, far more important than Lyoko or XANA or any other work he'd ever experimented with. This was for Aelita. _For Aelita, _he told himself, just before taking a step inside the scanner.

"Daddy, no! Please! Daddy!"

Franz Hopper took a deep breath and closed his eyes, beaming greatly at his daughter before taking a final look at her.

"See you in a minute, my dear."

"No," Aelita whispered, as if her voice had floated right out of her body. The cabin doors shut, and her mind started going cloudy. She sprinted towards that scanner and she started banging on it. She banged on it _so _hard, over and over again, screaming at the metal that sealed her away from her father. "Daddy, no! Come back! Come back!" She wailed again and again, smacking her palms against the doors, even digging her nails between them trying to pry them open.

After a moment, Aelita dropped to her knees, hands still pressed against the scanner, and screamed. Oh, she screamed _so _loud.

And up in the lab, that blonde sitting in the chair could hear _everything. _And it was _killing _him.

"Ready for transfer, Jeremie," Franz muffled into his headset. But Jeremie hesitated. The scanner was locked and ready, all he had to do was press a button and start the scan…but his fingers froze over the keyboard, because all he could think about was the sobbing and shrieking coming from the floor before. The pain that she was going through that would literally be _his _fault. He was literally leading her father to his own death, and it was all because he'd agreed to take charge.

"Jeremie, don't," Aelita sniffled, peering up at the ceiling of the scanner room. "Jeremie, no! Don't do it!"

His fingers remained frozen over the keyboard. He looked around the room, looked at the others who were standing by his side and over his shoulder, and they all nodded in agreement, with solemn looks on their face. Silently, he cursed himself, before smashing his finger against the key—as if he were angry in doing so.

"Jeremie, please!" Aelita cried out. "I'm begging you!"

There was silence for a moment. Aelita held back the sobs, let them collect in her throat, and stared at the ceiling as if she were looking right at Jeremie. Silence. So much silence. Had he agreed to not go through with it?

Aelita brushed her palm against the icy metal of the scanner, and she left it there. Just resting it there. On the other side, Franz had done the same thing. Joining hands with her, without either of them knowing.

Then the next word followed, and it stabbed her right in the chest. "Virtualization."

She shrilled so loudly, and her drawn out wail quickly morphed into a series of violent bawling and choking and hiccupping. Now he wasn't in the scanner anymore. At least before, he'd been on the other side—he was still _there—_but now… there was nothing but emptiness inside that cabin. And her cries, they echoed throughout the emptiness of the room, and then all she felt inside of her was emptiness.

She hated him. She _hated _him. He'd left her again. He came back out of nowhere and then he just up and left her _again. _And Jeremie—oh, she hated him so much. This was his fault. His fault! He brought her dad to his own demise. He was in charge. This was his fault.

It wasn't anyone's fault.

Aelita's hand slipped off of the cabin's door, and she let her forehead fall against it. "Daddy..."

On the floor above, when the transfer was complete and Franz had confirmed he was on Lyoko, Yumi, Ulrich and Odd had all made a getaway for the elevator. Jeremie was dealing with the program and Hopper, and Laura was standing dutifully by his side with her iPad.

But William, William was curious and also suspicious. He caught up with the others before they left, and in a soft whisper, asked what the hell it was they were doing.

"She needs someone," Ulrich had replied.

No, William didn't think that was any excuse. "So you're just going to abandon Jeremie? He needs someone, too; look at the pressure he's under."

They all glanced over at Jeremie, sitting in the chair with just Laura by his side, and none of them could disagree. None of them wanted to leave Aelita alone in that scanner room, but none of them wanted to leave Jeremie alone in the lab, either.

And while they stood in the corner and whispered away, Jeremie's eyes remained locked on the screen, barely acknowledging that anyone else was even still there. Franz had made it to the core, and he was ready.

This was it. Jeremie was in control, Jeremie was the one that was going to launch the program. Jeremie was going to kill him.

But just as his finger hovered over the button, Franz had stopped him.

"Jeremie," he said.

"Yes, sir?"

"Will you do me a favor?"

"Absolutely."

"Take good care of Aelita for me—will you?"

Jeremie smiled at the screen. "Of course. I will, sir, don't worry."

There was silence for a bit, before a final confirmation. "You can launch it, now."

His stomach tightened. His finger was there—it was so close to the button. All he had to do was press it. Just one press.

He nodded, although Franz wouldn't be able to see it, and crashed the tip of his finger against the key.

But just seconds before his demise, milliseconds even, Franz had the chance to say one last thing, even though Jeremie didn't have the chance to respond.

"Tell Aelita that I love her. And that I am so, _so _proud of her."


End file.
